Frank Donatelli: 800 miles from Washington, a new conservative blueprint

Eight hundred miles and a world away from the life-and-death budget struggle in Washington, conservative activists gathered in St. Louis last weekend to meet a new generation of conservative leaders. They left the regional Conservative Political Action Conference with renewed hope, both for the party and the movement as a whole.

Network news crews weren’t in attendance as a young legislator named Carlin Yoder spoke boldly about his successful effort to make Indiana the 23rd in the nation to enact what he rightly calls workplace freedom — the right to not send a portion of your paycheck to finance the activities and lifestyles of union bosses.

At 39, Senator Yoder typifies a new breed of grassroots conservative whose emergence has virtually escaped the radar of the mainstream Washington-based media. He was, however, recognized at CPAC as an honoree of the American Conservative Union/GOPAC “10 Under 40” program — an especially promising group of nationwide elected leaders under the age of 40 who represent conservatism’s best hope in the years ahead.

Senator Yoder challenged his national counterparts to “come up with a plan, a blueprint.”

In Indiana, he stressed, conservative successes came about as the result of “a long-term vision” — a guidepost toward true North that could withstand even the most vocal opposition.

“We need to come up with our own ideas to mold the United States into the conservative nation of our founding,” Senator Yoder told the conservative activists.

In Indiana as in other Republican-led states, that bold conservative blueprint includes education reform. Before Senator Yoder came to office, Hoosiers were spending half their budget on education — and the investment was not being borne out by results.

Because of the new conservative vision, teachers and schools in Indiana are now held accountable to parents and taxpayers; quality teachers are being rewarded with merit pay, while underperforming ones are shown the door. School voucher programs have been beefed up, and parents now have an objective means to evaluate their children’s schools and teachers in an atmosphere of transparency.

Indiana isn’t the only place where a promising new conservative agenda for tomorrow is being driven by an exciting new group of leaders — and being overshadowed by the epic showdown in Washington.